Cryptocurrency donations to ministers in Japan are not subject to financial regulations, Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications said at a press conference Tuesday.
Under Japanese law, Takaichi said that donations of “monetary money” and securities to individual ministers is “prohibited”, but that “cryptographic assets do not fall under any of the above, and don't limit donations,” according to Japanese news outlet Kyodo News and syndicated in Reuters.
Takaichi said that if politicians receive cryptocurrency donations, these are deemed legal, and don’t have to be included in any transparency reports about the origin of donations to political parties.
When asked whether regulations should be created to close the loophole, Takaichi said that it’s an issue to be discussed by each party and each group.
This echoes sentiment from the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA), which said, in a statement last year, the crypto industry should regulate itself. “It’s a very fast moving industry. It’s better for experts to make rules in a timely manner than bureaucrats do,” a senior FSA official told Reuters in 2018.
Cryptocurrency regulations in Japan are less restrictive than those in other countries. In the US, for example, politicians can receive crypto donations, but still have to report them as donations.